"These organisms help drive the carbon cycle of the planet," said Peter von Dassow of the Instituto Milenio de Oceanografía de Chile. "With the ocean changing pretty fast, we need more tools to understand their basic biology. Understanding this means we could extend knowledge from the molecular level out to the whole earth. This is an important opportunity to do really high-risk research that one couldn't possibly get funded by most funding mechanisms, and it can lead to a really big impact. If we get even one good model created from this effort, it will be a big deal."

"An important aspect of our grantmaking in marine science is to identify opportunities to overcome bottlenecks that are preventing scientific progress, which often requires taking a risk," said Jon Kaye, program director of the foundation's Marine Microbiology Initiative. "We are also working with this group of scientists to broadly share information about their developing genetic techniques — both what is working and what remains unsolved — through online forums such as protocols.io, an open-access repository of science methods."